Does more leadership = more influence?

August 21, 2010

A myth about leadership is that you need to be in a position of leadership to influence others. The thought is that I can’t possible change anyone’s life, I’m just a ______ . We end up limiting ourselves based on where we are in life.

One man who influenced me the most was an offensive line coach I had named Gene Harpe. Before I met him I was an overwhelmed, unconfident, freshmen offensive lineman. One day, after an especially horrible practice, he wrote me a letter saying he believed in me and thought I had the potential to play like a junior that season. Some of the smallest things can have the hugest impact. I consider myself to be a confident person now because he believed in me and later on I understood how God believes in me.

The truth is that we have been uniquely placed where we are. Sometimes it’s not the head coach or the pastor but the position coach or small group leader that can help facilitate life change. My question is what are you doing with your influence?